stibbe



e. STIBBE. CLRCULAR GLOVE KNITTING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED JAN-10,1917.

Patented Apr. 13, 1920;

7 SHEET$-SHEET I.

G. STIBBE.

CIRCULAR GLOVE KNITTING MACHINE.

' APPLlCATlQN FILED MN 10. 1917. 1,337,099. Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

G. STIBBE.

CIRCULAR GLOVE KNITTING MACHINE. nrucmuu mm um. 10. 1911.

1,337,099. Patented p 13,1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

CIRCULAR GLOVE KNITTING MACHINE.

Patented A 13, 1920.

.7 SH SHEET 4.

APPLICATION FILED LAN-10,1917.

G. 'STIBBE.

CIRCULAR GLOVE KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED IAN- I0, I91?- Patented Apr. 13, 1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 5.

G. STIBBE.

CIRCULAR GLOVE KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-10.. 1917 1,337,099. Pat nted Apr. 13, 1920.

7 SHEETS-SHEET 6 GODFREY surmise, or LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

CIRCULAR eLovn-KNI rriNG MAoHINE.

Specification of Letters Eatent. Patntd Aprils, 1920.

Application filed January 10, 1917. Serial No. 141,594.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GODFREY STIBBE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, citizen of Leicester, England, residing at Leicester, in the county of Leicester, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to- Circular Glove-Knitting Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to circular knitting machines and embodies improvements whlch are specially designed to produce'a fabric, such for instance as the blank of a knitted glove comprising a circular section to form say the wrist and hand, and a plurality of narrow flat sections, adapted to be subsequently joined together to form the fingers and thumb of the glove.

The circular fabric section is made in the well known manner by knitting a continuous succession of courses upon the full complement of needles until the desired length of fabric is knitted, and the thumb and fingers are produced by reciprocating the cams over a small section or simultaneously over two or more similar sections of the needles to form a single or plurality of finger fabrics. A fabric and glove of the above mentioned character and the method of knitting the same are fully described in my patent specification No. 17655 of 1915.

The machine comprehended by the present invention comprises mechanism which will permit continuous rotary motion of the cams to take place for producingcircular fabric and reciprocating motion of the cams tobe effected upon asmall section or sections of the needles to produce narrow selvaged webs or finger fabrics, and a change in the order and character of the knitting to be made for theabove purposes as and when may be desired, such changes being effected and controlled by suitable intermediate connections from a pattern chain, designed and constructed for the said purposes.

The invention in addition to including the usual knitting cams arranged to effect both circular; and reciprocating knitting,

comprises a needle cylinder and cooperating mechanism for moving the needle cylinder through any predetermined arc of a circle in order to bring any small section or sections of needles within the path of reciprocation of the knitting cams for knitting the finger and thumb sections of the fabric and changing the disposition of the needle cylinder so as to bring other small sections of the needles within the sphere of movement of'the' knitting cams for the knitting of other finger sections. 7 The number of sectional needles in operatlon is determined by whether the flat narrow fabric to be knitted is to, form one of two halves of a finger fabric or a finger fabric of the full width which when doubled forms acomplete finger lorja" thumb, the 'full width finger fabrics being most advantageously knitted to form the first and fourth 2'. e. the outside fingers of the hand. In order that any section of needles in the cylinder may be brought within the field of operation of the reciprocating knitting cams, the needle cylinder itself is capable of reciprocating or rotating, and to this end is mounted upon a sleeve and has associated therewith automatically operated racking mechanism whereby it receives periodically a partial rotary movement over a given space either to the right or to the left as will be hereinafter explained.

In order that the invention may be clearly mderstood reference will be made in the following further description to the accompanying drawings which show convenient mechanical arrangements for a circular knitting machine whereby the invention may be carried into practical effect.

In the drawings referred to Figure 1 is an elevation of the needle cylinder mounted and arranged according to the invention.

Fig.2 is a plan of the same and illustrates one form of the cylinder racking mechanism,

1 1' 3 is an elevation of the picker actuating means.

.4 is a plan of a modified form of the cylinder racking means.

Fig. 5 is a similar view showing a further form of the racking means.

6 is an elevation of the driving means of the racking mechanism.

Fig. 7 shows in elevation the arrangement for automatically controlling such driving means.

Fig. 8 is an elevation of the means employed for automatically reversing the direction of the racking of the needle cylinder.

Fig. 9 is front view of part of the mechanism shown in Fig. 8. i

Figs. 10 and 11 are sectional side eleva tions on the line a-b of Fig. 9' viewed from the right and left respectively.

Fig. 12 shows a modified form of the device illustrated in Fig. 9.

Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic illustration of the knitting or stitching cams, taken from an illustration of same in Quilter and Chamberlain on Framework Knitting and Hosiery, published by Hosiery Trade J ournal, Leicester, England, 1912.

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are drawn to a smaller scale than the other figures, and like parts are designated by the same reference characters throughout the drawings.

The needle cylinder 1 (Fig. 1) is rotatably mounted upon a sleeve 2 suitably arranged upon the bed of the machine. The sleeve 2 in addition to permitting the cylinder 1 to rotate may permit it to be moved up and down in the customary manner such for example as when it is desired to form larger loops and to incorporate a splicing thread therewith.

To effect the aforesaid reciprocal motion of the needle cylinder for bringing certain predetermined sections of the needles (such as the various groups desc ibed in the patent specification already referred to) into operative position with the reci1n'ocating knitting cams (not shown) for making the finger fabrics, there are employed, for example, two circular racks 3, 1 attached to a reduced part 5 of the cylinder, the teeth of said racks being (as shown in Figs. 2, l and 5) disposed in opposite directions and actuated by driving pawls 6 and 7, each of which when operated moves the cylinder in the opposite direction.

In the arrangement of racking mechanism illustrated in Fig. 2, the pawls 6 and '7 are carried on independent arms 8 and 9 fulcru'med on the reduced part 5 of the cylinder and actuated by a lever 10 common to both. The lever '10 is fulcrumed at 11 and actuated by a connection 12 from mechanism hereinafter described. A pin 13 in the end of each arm 8, 9 engages a bent slot 14, in the lever. The part 14 of each slot is concentric with the fulcrum 11 so that when the lever 10 is turned to either side one arm will be moved while the other remains still, the pin 1.3 of the actuated arm moving up the part 15 of theslot. The lever 10 is also furnished with two pins 16,

.17 which when the lever is moved to one side or the other make contact with their .respective pawls 6 or 7 and move it from engagement w1th the circular rack.

Thus by moving the lever 10 to one side or the other one of the pawls is disengaged from I In the modified ar angement shown in Fig. 1 the pawls 6, 7 are carried upon a common lever 18 pivoted at 19 and actuated by the connection 12. Each pawl has thereon an adjustable plate 20 which cooperates with a fixed pin 21. When the lever is moved to one side or the other, one or other of the pawls is disengaged from its circular rack by the plate 20 working on the pin 21.

In the further arrangement shown in Fig. 5 the pawls 6 and 7 are mounted on a lever 22 pivoted at 23 and actuated by the connection 12. In this case pins 21, 25 on the lever carry one or other of the pawls away from their racks when the lever is moved to one side or the other.

In each of the racking arrangement-s described, the pawls may be suitably actuated by springs so that when released by the controlling pins they will move into engagement with the teeth of the circular racks.

Also in each of the arrangements described, when the lever occupies the central position both the pawl. are in engagement with their racks. A movement of the lever to one side or the other of the central p051- tion disengages one pawl or the other from its rack. For instance, in the case of the lever 10 (Fig. 2), if this is moved toward the right, the pawl 7 will be acted upon by the pin 17 and disengaged from the rack 1; the lever 18 (Fig. 1), when moved to the right disengages pawl (3 from the rack 33; and the lever 22 (Fig. 5) when moved to the right disengages a pawl 7 from the rack 14. Thus by giving the lever a movement to one side or the other from the central position, one of. the pawls is put out of action while the other pawl is left in engagement with its rack. The lever is, of course moved so that the pawl remaining in action is the appropriate one for racking the cylinder in the direction desired. The lever having been moved as described to one side or the other of its neutral position is given an oscillating movement without returning to the central position and by the pawl left in action racks around the cylinder.

For changing the position of the pawl lever to determine the direction in which the cylinder is to be racked and for oscillating the pawl lever in either position to rack around the cylinder, mechanism of the kind shown in Figs. 6 to 12 may conveniently be employed. This mechanism COIIIPIlSQS a rock-shaft 26 (Figs. 6 and 8) having upon it a crank member 27 (Figs. 8 and 9) to which the previously mentioned connection 12 is fastened. The shaft 26 is actuated by means of a crank 28 (Fig. 6) connected by a rod 29 with a lever 30 pivoted at 31 and actuated positively in each direction by a cam 32 on a shaft 33.

The shaft 33 is driven by a train of gears remote 34, 35, 36, 37 from a main shaft 38 and in order that the duration of the racking of the cylinder may be automatically controlled a clutch 39 (Fig. 7) is interposed between the gear 37 and the shaft 33 whereby the latter may be stopped when the cylinder has been rotated the required distance. The clutch is actuated by a fork 40 attached to a slide rod 41 actuated by a spring 42 to effect declutching. During the driving of the shaft 33 the clutch is held in operation by a spring controlled lever 43 which enters a notch or groove 44 in the rod 41. W hen racking of the cylinder is to stop, a pin or peg 45 on a pattern chain 46 moves the lever 43 on its pivot 47 and releases the rod 41 which is thereupon moved by its spring 42 and effects de' lutching to stop the rotation of the shaft 33.. V

In order that the before mentioned movement may be imparted to the pawl lever in one direction or the other for the purpose of disengaging one of the pawls so that the other will rack, the crank member 27 is ar ranged to be capable of movement independent of the rockshaft 26. To this end, according to one construction, the crank member may, as shown in Fig. 9, be mounted to oscillate on the shaft 26. The said crank member is situated between a collar 48 and a sup port 49 both fixed to the shaft and the support having therein a slide plate 50 (Figs. 9 and 10) whi h works up-and down between pairs of guides 51, 52 on the support and is furnished with a pin or roller 53 on one face thereof. Fast with the crank member 27 is a flange 54 (Figs. 9 and 11) having therein a cam slot 55 in which the pin or roller 53 on the slide plate 50 is situated. The support 49 and the flange 54 are located close together and the slide plate 50 is kept in pla e in the support by the flange. When the slide plate is moved up and down in the support the pin or roller 53 in passing up and down the'cam slot 55 in the flange 54 will oscillate the latter and the crank member 27 on the shaft 26. Thus by raising or lowering the slide plate 50, the crank mem- I her is moved one way or the other on the shaft 26 independently of the rocking of the latter, and by reason of the connection 12 shifts the pawl lever to one side or the other for the purpose aforesaid.

After the crank member 27 has been moved on the rockshaft 26 in the manner stated, it remains fast therewith during the oscillation thereof being held against movement thereon by the engagement of the pin or roller 53 with the slot 55.

The slide plate 50 is moved up and. down in the support 49 by automatic means as shown in Fig. 3 comprising, for example, a

rock lever 56 pivoted at 57 and connected by a rod 58 with the slide plate 50 such connection allowing the oscillatory movements of the slide plate eflfected by the rockshaft 26 to take place without raising or lowering the said plate in its support 49 Sllfll ciently to cause any movement of the crank member relatively to the support. The rocklever 56 has upon it two rollers 59, 60 which ride over dogs or stops 61 on pattern chains 62, 63 carried over wheels 64, 65 geared together and racked around by a pawl 66 and ratchet wheel 67. The pawl 66 receives actu: ation from a lever 68 and cam 69, and it will be understood that by settingthe dogs or stops 61 in predetermined positions on the chains 62, 63 the rocking of the lever 56 to raise or lower the slide plate 50 may be caused to take place when necessary to change the direction of the racking of the cylinder.

In the modified arrangement shown in Fig. 12, the device is mainly the same as that of Figs. 9, 10 and 11 except that the crank member 27 and flange 54 are attached to a shaft 26 the flange being held up to the support 49 by straps 70 which however, allow the flange to move relatively to the support in the manner and for the purpose previously mentioned. The advantage of this modified arrangement is that it enables the crank member 27 to be situated remote from the device (49, 50, 54) which imparts the independent oscillating movement to such member.

When circular knitting is proceeding all the needles are of course in action and prior to the knitting upon the separate groups or sections of needles all the needles are raised out of action. To this latter end the needles may be in two sections viz :-long butts and short butts and a cam or cams be employed therewith for engaging first the long butted needles and then the short butted needles to raise them to a non-knitting track.

For the purpose of bringing down into action the needles required to compose each section or group for knitting the finger fabrics, pickers are employed and conveniently these are actuated at the same time that the racking of the cylinder takes place.

According to one arrangement there may be provided, a picker for each cylinder needle said pickers 71 (Fig. 1.) being pivotally mounted in an annular ring 7 2 radially tricked to match the cylinder. A picker 71 is arranged in each trick '73 of the ring 72 and acts upon the butt 74 of the needle in the corresponding trick of the cylinder in the manner shown. That is to say the nose 7 5 of the picker makes contact with the top side of the needle butt to lower the needle from the non-knitting position (dotted lines) to the knitting position (full lines).

The pickers are actuated in the following manner: The needle cylinder is racked the distance of one needle space at each operation of the pawl 6 or 7 and as each operation occurs the tails 76' of the pickers come in turn over the end 77 of a lever 7 8 (Figs. 2 and 3) whichlever by means of a slide 7 9 connected to the pawl lever raises the tail of the picker and consequently lowers the needle into action as already described. The lever 78 and slide 79 have inclines 80 which cooperate for the aforesaid purpose when the slide moves in the direction indicated by the arrow.

Thus at each movement of the racking mechanism, a picker is actuated by the same mechanism to lower a needle into the path of the knitting cams, this being continued until the required number of needles are brought into working position whereupon reciprocating knitting proceeds to form a finger fabric on the said section of needles.

After each section of needles had been knitted upon the needles composing such section are raised to the non-knitting track by the previously mentioned cam or cams and then the requisite needles for the next section are lowered into action.

In some cases, as described in the aforesaid patent specification, some of the needles used in one group or section, are required for the next group or section, and while I may arrange that these needles wanted for the next section shall be left in action while the remainder are taken out so that the racking mechanism need only effect the lowering into action of the balance of needles required, it appears to be more convenient to take all the needles out of action as each section-completes its operation and then select the whole of the needles for the next section, and in doing so, when the overlapping is required, re-select some of the needles of the preceding section so that they are included in the next section and knit in company with the other needles of said section.

After each finger fabric has been com pleted the needles in the group or section employed to knit such fabric retain their loops and go out of action as aforesaid. When needles which have knitted in one section are used'again in the next section, these needles simply proceed to knit further fabric which forms a continuation of the fabric previously knitted thereon, thus in a glove blank produced the extremity of one finger fabric is joined to the base of the next finger fabric and requires to be severed at this locality before the blank can be finished into a glove.

After having completed all the finger sections the loops may be pressed of? the needles or circular knitting may he proceeded with for the commencement of another glove.

It will be apparent that as the position of the needle cylinder will require to be changed after such section of needles has been in operation and before the needles for the next section are brought down, provision must be made for racking around the cylinder without at the same time lowering the needles. The picker actuating means are therefore designed to operate only when the pawl lever is moved to one side and not to the other. For instance when the lever 10 (Fig. 2) is moved to a position on the right hand side and is oscillated, the pawl 6 will rack the cylinder around in the direction of the arrow 81 and the slide 79 and lever '78 will operate the pickers to lower each needle into action as it comes into position opposite the end 77 of the said lever 78. But when the lever 1.0 is moved to a position on the left hand side and is oscillated, the pawl 7 will rack the cylinder around in the direction of the arrow 82 and the slide 79 occupying a position (indicated by dotted lines in Fi 3) away from the incline 80 of the lever 18 will not actuate the latter, consequently the pickers will not be acted upon.

According to another arrangement instead of providing a separate picker for each needle, one picker may serve for all the needles such picker occupying a fixed position apart from the cylinder and being actuated to lower each needle as the butts come into position underneath it during the intermittent rotation of the cylinder.

To correctly hold the cylinder in each needle position during the rocking movements a spring actuated slide 83 5) or some equivalent device may coo ierate with a notched or toothed disk Set fast with the cylinder. This device prevents overrunning and backward movement during racking and holds the cylinder in position after racking.

The cam or cams for taking the needles out of action, and the knitting cams, and also a cam or cams used for bringing all the needles down into action when circular knitting is to be resumed may be of the usual character and arrangement.

The butts 74E acted upon by the pickers may be tail butts on the needles or butts on needle jacks, the knitting and other cams acting upon the ordinary butts of the needles (not shown).

What I claim then is 1. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein, cooperating cams arranged to effect both circular and reciprocating knitting, means operating automatically for changing the relative positions of the needle cylinder and cams to bring dilferent sections or groups of needles within the field of the cams for reciprocating knitting upon such sections and automatic means for selecting the neodles required to compose each successive scction-upon which reciprocating knitting is to take place, some of the needles of one group being used, when necessary in an adjacent group for the purpose described.

Ind

2. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein, coopcrating cams arranged to effect both circular and reciprocating knitting, and mechanism for moving the cylinder through any predetermined arc of a circle to bring any section or group of the needles within the path of the reciprocating cams for knitting purposes. I

3. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein, cooperating cams arranged to effect both circular and reciprocating knitting, mechanism for changing the disposition of the needle cylinder whereby different sections of the needles may be brought within. the path of the reciprocating cams, and mechanism for selecting the needles required to compose each section upon which reciprocating knitting is to take place.

i. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein cooperating cams arranged to effect both circular and reciprocating knitting and mechanisni for changing the disposition of the needle cylinder whereby different sections of the needles may be brought within the path of the reciprocating cams for knitting purposes.

5. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein, cooperating cams arranged to effect both circular and reciprocating knitting, and cylinder racking mechanism comprising a pair of 0ppositely toothed racks on the cylinder, pawls to actuate the racks, means for actuating the pawls, and means for rendering one of said pawls inoperative when the other is operative for the purpose described.

6. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein, cooperating cams arranged to effect both circular and reciprocating knitting, racldng mechanism for changing the disposition of the needle cylinder whereby difl'erent sections of the needles may be brought within the path of the reciprocating cams for knitting purposes, and means to automatically control the duration and direction of the racking movement.

7. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein, cooperating cams arranged to efiect both circular and reciprocating knitting, racking mechanism to change the disposition of the needle cylinder whereby different sections of the needles may be brought within the path of the reciprocating cams for knitting purposes, pickers for selecting the needles required to compose each section upon which reciprocating knitting is to take place, picker actuating'means arranged to be operative when the racking mechanism racks in one direction but to be inoperative when said. mechanism racks in the opposite direction, for the purpose described.

8. A circular knitting machine comprising a needle cylinder, needles therein, cooperating cams arranged to efi'ect both circular and reciprocating knitting, racking mechanism to change the disposition of the needle cylinder whereby different sections of the needles may be brought within the path of the reciprocating cams for knitting purposes, pattern mechanism to automatically control the duration and direction of the racking movement, pickers for selecting the needles required to compose each section upon which reciprocating knitting is to take place, and picker actuating means arranged to be operative when the racking mechanism racks in one direction but to be inoperative when said mechanism racks in the opposite direction, for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GODFREY STIBBE.

Witnesses:

E. N. LEWIS, GEORGE LESTER. 

